Page 60 of The Last Syphon

Inara didn’t like to think of herself as the judgemental type. Didn’t like to lump people in categories based on their power, especially since she herself had a power that she was judged upon simply for possessing it. But in saying that, the few Firestarters she had met had been as hot-headed as their power, quick to anger and completely volatile.

She had come across a few over her travels, and she’d honestly hoped never to again. Firestarters not only created fire out of thin air, but they could also manipulate it in any way they chose, bending and shaping it to their will.

They were beyond dangerous.

Sweat trickled down the back of her neck. Her eyes never left the man in front of her, watching, waiting⁠—

His hands shot up. A stream of fire hurtled towards her. Inara slammed a shield up, and the fire crashed against it harshly, making her grunt in pain, sliding back a step from the impact. Pressure clutched her mind in a tight, unrelenting vice. It was harsher than last time. More brutal. More unforgiving because she had already endured a battle. Her magic was already running low.

Fire danced along her shield, stretching and weaving as if it had a mind of its own. As though it was searching for a way to get past the barrier, looking for a way to reach her. To burn her. Consume her.

Inara extended her shield to match its movements, allowing no give, almost wrapping it entirely around herself to keep them protected.

“Fuck. Inara. Behind us.” Felix cursed.

Inara didn’t want to look. She really fucking didn’t, because whatever it was wouldn’t be good.

Glancing over her shoulder, she froze, momentary panic seizing her bones.

Three more soldiers came barrelling into the chamber, two men and one woman. She feared they might attack her when she was preoccupied, trying to gain the upper hand while she was distracted. It would have been a good idea. Instead, they spread out, taking the east, west, and south points of the chamber, boxing her in completely.

“I don’t like this,” Felix commented.

Neither did she, but she was unable to voice it. All of her energy was being poured into her shield.

Her eyes roved between the four of them, trying to keep them all in her line of sight at the same time. Trying to split her focus evenly between them. Her heart fucking pounded. Almost to the point of pain.

What are they going to do?

What is going to happen?

The air grew unbearably hot.

No. No, no, no.

All three soldiers flexed their arms.

Fucking impossible.

Fire consumed them from hands to shoulders.

Four Firestarters?!

Inara didn’t have another moment to think about anything else. Torrents of flames torpedoed towards her. Her other hand shot up. The shield slammed around her entirely, encompassing them in a shield bubble just as the fire smashed into it.

She screamed at the pain, a bellowed cry falling from her lips. Her whole body trembled. The pressure she had desperately been trying to fight back took over completely. It was all she could feel. All she could think about. She could not separate it. Could not escape it no matter what she tried to do. Her hands shook uncontrollably as she hopelessly moved them left and right, up and down, funnelling all the power she could into those spots—the spots she could feel weakening second by second.

Darkness crept into the corners of her vision. Blood seeped from her nose and ears. Inara’s shield shrunk, forcing her down to her knees with a cry. She’d entered her reserves, and soon, even that would be depleted.

They were completely covered in flames. It consumed every inch of her shield to the point that she could see nothing else around her. Just fire, fire, and more fire.

Her strength was vanishing quicker than she could have ever anticipated, and there was nothing she could do about it. She couldn’t win.

She. Couldn’t. Win.

As hard as it was to accept, Inara knew what she had to do. It had been foolish of her to enter into the last round with her power level as dangerously low as it was. She should have just given up, but she’d allowed her pride to take root, and now she’d placed her best friend in grave danger.

Ugh. Inara hated how happy it would make Larissa and Prince Walder to see that she had failed, but she had no other option. Inara had to end it. She couldn’t hold it back any longer…The pain…It was too much⁠—